flunkey
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit](This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]flunkey (plural flunkeys or flunkies)
- (derogatory) An underling; a liveried servant or a footman; servant, retainer – a person working in the service of another (especially in the household).
- 1929, Baldwyn Dyke Acland, chapter 2, in Filibuster:
- “One marble hall, with staircase complete, one butler and three flunkeys to receive a retired sojer who dares to ring the bell. D'you know, old boy, I gave my bowler to the butler, whangee to one flunkey, gloves to another, and there was the fourth poor blighter looking like an orphan at a Mothers' Meeting. …"
- 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 304:
- Dignified flunkies in the circular reception hall of the Ritz took my bag and briefcase and I came through the revolving door looking for Renata.
- An unpleasant, snobby or cringeworthy person.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]liveried servant or a footman
one who is obsequious or cringing
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See also
[edit]- flunker (possibly false cognate)
- lackey
References
[edit]- “flunkey”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “flunky”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.